The Supreme Court will soon hear a wage and hour case with massive implications for employers defending claims under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”). Depending on the outcome, the high court’s decision could make it far more difficult for employers to prove a plaintiff/employee is exempt from the FLSA’s minimum wage and overtime requirements. Continue Reading New SCOTUS Case Could Make Fair Labor Standards Act Claims More Difficult for Employers to Defend
Federal law establishes minimum wage and overtime requirements for non-exempt employees. These rules do not apply to individuals who qualify under the executive, administrative, and professional exemptions in the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (“FLSA”). Individuals only qualify as exempt if they meet specified requirements that include a salary level test, among other rules.Continue Reading New DOL Exemption Rule Requires Two-Step Salary Increases Under FLSA for Exempt Employees
The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (“FLSA”) created the right to a minimum wage and overtime pay. The FLSA also provides exemptions to overtime pay requirements for certain employees. Under the “bona fide executive” exemption, “highly compensated employees” are exempt from overtime if performing at least one qualifying job duty. However, on February 22, 2023, the United States Supreme Court, in its 6-3 decision in Helix Energy Solution Group, Inc. v. Hewitt, clarified that highly compensated employees paid on a “day-rate” do not qualify for this exemption because a day-rate does not satisfy the salary basis test.Continue Reading Supreme Court Clarifies a “Day-Rate” Does Not Meet the FLSA “Salary Basis” Test, Even for Highly Compensated Employees
On May 2, 2022, the Supreme Court of the United States (“SCOTUS”) granted an employer’s petition for review to determine whether highly compensated employees are entitled to overtime compensation under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) if they are paid on a daily rate and not on a salary basis.
Continue Reading SCOTUS to Determine Whether Highly Compensated Employees Are Entitled to Overtime Pay
On August 31, 2017, Judge Amos Mazzant in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas issued an order granting a group of twenty-one states’ and fifty-five business associations’ motion for summary judgment in consolidated cases seeking declaratory and injunctive relief against a May 23, 2016 Department of Labor rule drastically increasing the minimum salary an employee must earn to qualify for the most common exemptions from the federal overtime laws. The rule was originally scheduled to go into effect on December 1, 2016 and would have increased the minimum salary an employee must earn to qualify for the administrative, executive or professional exemption from federal overtime requirements from $455 per week ($23,660 annually) to $913 per week ($47,476 annually). The rule also would have provided for automatic increases to the minimum salary level every three years. Judge Mazzant had issued a nationwide preliminary injunction on November 22, 2016 delaying implementation of the Department of Labor’s new minimum salary rule, finding that it was likely unlawful and would cause irreparable harm to the plaintiff states and business groups. Judge Mazzant’s August 31, 2017 order confirms the findings in the November 22, 2016 preliminary injunction and represents a final decision at the district court level that the Department of Labor’s May 23, 2016 minimum salary rule is illegal and void.
Continue Reading Federal Court Strikes Down Department of Labor’s Overtime Rule
[UPDATE] On December 29, 2016, the New York State Department of Labor (“NYSDOL”) adopted its proposed rule increasing overtime exempt salary thresholds for New York employees. The new rule is
Continue Reading Update: New York State Department of Labor Proposes Increases to Overtime Exempt Salary Threshold
On November 22, 2016, a federal court in the Eastern District of Texas issued a preliminary injunction blocking the Department of Labor from enforcing new regulations that would have drastically reduced the number of white collar employees who are exempt from overtime. The disputed regulations were set to take effect on December 1.
Continue Reading Texas Federal Court Blocks New Salary Restrictions for Exempt Employees
[UPDATE] On December 29, 2016, the New York State Department of Labor (“NYSDOL”) adopted its proposed rule increasing overtime exempt salary thresholds for New York employees. The new rule is set to take effect in just two days on December 31, 2016. The NYSDOL made no changes to the version of the proposed rule published on October 19, 2016 and discussed in this article. Employers in New York should plan to comply with the new overtime salary thresholds as outlined below on January 1, 2017. The United States Department of Labor’s proposed rule to increase the national overtime exempt salary threshold is still under a nationwide preliminary injunction and is set to be decided in the first half of 2017. However, this preliminary injunction had no effect on the December 31, 2016 effective date of the New York State rule.
Continue Reading New York State Department of Labor Proposes Increases to Overtime Exempt Salary Threshold
On July 22, 2015, Governor Brown signed AB 2535 that clarifies which employees for whom an employer must track hours worked and record those hours on their wage statements. The bill will become effective January 1, 2017.
Prior to this amendment, Labor Code section 226 required that an employee’s paystub include hours worked for all employees except individuals who are paid “solely” by salary and are “exempt from payment of overtime” under Labor Code section 515(a) or the governing wage order. As written, this seemed to require hours on the paystub for exempt outside sales people and executives who are not paid solely by salary but receive bonuses and stock options even though these employees do not record hours worked and hours worked is not a relevant figure when calculating their wages. In fact, in Garnett v. ADT, LLC, 139 F. Supp. 3d 1121 (2015), the district court held that exemption in Labor Code section 226 did not apply to exempt outside salespersons since they were paid solely by commission (and not salary) and, therefore, had to have their total hours worked included on their paystubs. The Garnett court noted in its decision that, “[w]hile the usefulness of reporting total hours worked for employees paid solely by commission is not entirely clear, it is nonetheless required by Labor Code Section 226 (a).”Continue Reading Governor Brown Signs Bill Clarifying Wage Statement Requirements for Exempt Employees
In March 2014, President Obama signed an executive order directing the Department of Labor to revise its aging rules governing overtime pay for white collar employees. The Department solicited comments from the public on an earlier draft in July 2015. Yesterday, the Department of Labor released the final version of the new rules. The new version includes a number of changes—some expected, but others less so.
Continue Reading DOL Makes Last-Minute Tweaks to New Overtime Exemption Rules
On Monday, July 6, 2015, in response to a March 2014 executive order signed by President Obama, the Department of Labor (“Department”) published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“NPRM”) that will more than double the minimum salary necessary for a worker to be classified as “exempt” from the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) overtime regulations. It is estimated that over 5 million, currently exempt, salaried employees will be affected by the increased salary threshold.
Continue Reading 60-Day Public Comment Period Commences On Proposed FLSA Overtime Exemption Rule Changes